Film Noir and the Possibilities of Hollywood (Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television)

Built around close readings of 11 noir films, this book seeks to refresh our understanding of “film noir” by returning to the films themselves. Pushing against totalizing or generalizing approaches, which may have the unintended effect of flattening out significant distinctions and differences between individual approaches, __Film Noir and the Possibilities of Hollywood__ argues for the importance of staying attuned the varied and variegated formal, aesthetic and thematic strategies at work in individual films. By focusing on these strategies, the book invites readers to consider anew the enabling possibilities of Hollywood filmmaking in the studio era. Acknowledgments 6 Contents 7 List of Figures 10 Chapter 1: Introduction: The Case of the Missing Films 12 A Certain Tendency in Film Noir Criticism 17 The Hermeneutics of Suspicion 22 Meaning, Use, and Context 25 Looking Ahead 29 References 31 Part I: Paradigmatic and Conventional 34 Chapter 2: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Scarlet Street, and Out of the Past: Paradigm Cases 35 The Maltese Falcon (1941) 37 Double Indemnity (1944) 41 Scarlet Street (1945) 46 Out of the Past (1947) 49 Provisional Conclusions 52 References 55 Chapter 3: The Narrow Margin: Convention as Deception 57 Seeing Aspects, Inner Speech 61 Deception and Suppression 65 Stylistic Misdirection 69 Lessons in Perception 73 References 79 Part II: Auteurist Noir 80 Chapter 4: Ministry of Fear: Fritz Lang’s De-suturing Operation 81 An Ordinary Studio Assignment? 82 Disruptive Articulations 85 Gestures of Looking and Paranoid Camera Style 90 Undoing the “System of the Suture” 94 The Ordinary Made Uncanny 98 References 100 Chapter 5: The Big Sleep: Howard Hawks’s Hollywood Fantasy 101 Adapting The Big Sleep 104 Finely Polished Form 107 At the Acme Bookshop 114 Between Fantasy and Reality 119 References 121 Chapter 6: Laura: Otto Preminger’s Statement of Purpose 122 In the Kitchen 124 Making Coffee 130 In Medium Long Shot 137 The Resistance of the Real 145 References 146 Part III: Noir and History 148 Chapter 7: Act of Violence: Articulating the Spaces of Modernity 149 The Opening Sequence 153 City, Country, and Suburb 155 A Horrific Outsider 157 Dialectics of Shelter and Privilege 158 The Return of the Repressed 163 Conclusion 169 References 172 Chapter 8: Reign of Terror and The Tall Target: Theses on the Philosophy of History 173 The Films 174 Ideology and Historical Fiction 177 Historical Fiction and the Hermeneutic Code 181 Suspense in The Tall Target 182 Visual Excess and Aesthetic Spectacle in Reign of Terror 189 Conclusion: The Ruins of History 197 References 199 Part IV: Conclusion 201 Chapter 9: Conclusion: Some Reflections on Method 202 A Brief History of This Book 202 Postcritique and Film Studies 205 References 209 Index 211 Front Matter ....Pages i-xii Introduction: The Case of the Missing Films (Nathaniel Deyo)....Pages 1-22 Front Matter ....Pages 23-23 The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Scarlet Street, and Out of the Past: Paradigm Cases (Nathaniel Deyo)....Pages 25-46 The Narrow Margin: Convention as Deception (Nathaniel Deyo)....Pages 47-69 Front Matter ....Pages 71-71 Ministry of Fear: Fritz Lang’s De-suturing Operation (Nathaniel Deyo)....Pages 73-92 The Big Sleep: Howard Hawks’s Hollywood Fantasy (Nathaniel Deyo)....Pages 93-113 Laura: Otto Preminger’s Statement of Purpose (Nathaniel Deyo)....Pages 115-140 Front Matter ....Pages 141-141 Act of Violence: Articulating the Spaces of Modernity (Nathaniel Deyo)....Pages 143-166 Reign of Terror and The Tall Target: Theses on the Philosophy of History (Nathaniel Deyo)....Pages 167-194 Front Matter ....Pages 195-195 Conclusion: Some Reflections on Method (Nathaniel Deyo)....Pages 197-205 Back Matter ....Pages 207-213